A MISSING cat found living out of a bin five miles away from home has had the purr-fect happy ending after being reunited with his family in Halesowen.

Eleven-year-old moggy Tibby went out for his usual stroll on July 3 at around 2pm but never returned to his Springfield Road home.

Devastated owner Clare Butler, aged 29, scoured the neighbourhood - knocking doors and enlisting friends to post on Facebook groups.

But it was to Clare’s shock that her dad, Bill, received a call on his work number on Tuesday this week (September 8) to say Tibby had been scanned for a microchip after being found near Rood End, Oldbury.

She said: “I just couldn’t believe it, I thought how can it be him all that distance away.

“My dad gave me the address of where he was and we headed over there and it turned out some lovely guy had been looking after him in his garden.

“He said he had found him living out of a bin and managed to entice him into his garden.

“We were so grateful – Tibby even had a little hut that the man had built to keep him out the cold.

“It was only when he got in touch with a rescue centre to get him rehomed that he was scanned for a microchip.”

Tibby was given a check over by the Blackheath Veterinary Centre, in Long Lane, before returning home.

Clare, a senior journalist at a newspaper in Cambridgeshire, had returned to Halesowen for the lockdown period.

She added: “We were devastated when Tibby went missing as he is a huge part of the family since I had him for Christmas when I was 18.

“How he got where he did we’ll never know, but he is really friendly so neighbours have suggested he may have jumped into a van or car.

“Since being home he is loving having fuss, eating lots of chicken and curling up back on his favourite spot in the lounge.

“This really shows the importance of having your pet microchipped too – he would never have found his way back to us otherwise.”